CalPERS seeks errors, fraud in health enrollment

SACRAMENTO, Calif.  Tens of thousands of Californians believed to be mistakenly or fraudulently receiving benefits could soon be stricken from state health care rolls.

The Sacramento Bee reports (http://bit.ly/12cXqpX) the California Public Employees' Retirement System estimated last year that removing an estimated 29,000 wrongly listed children, spouses and domestic partners of government employees would save approximately $40 million annually.

But CalPERS now says it may have underestimated the number of people wrongly receiving benefits. The newspaper says early returns from an amnesty program launched last month indicate the savings may approach $80 million.

Experts say most ineligible dependents wind up on insurance rolls because of honest mistakes.

About 739,000 dependents get benefits from CalPERS, the second-largest health care purchaser in the nation after the federal government.